A Second Look: David Marquet on Transforming a Command Culture

A Second Look: David Marquet on Transforming a Command Culture

From Work Unplugged by Amrit Sandhar

December 1, 2025 · 39 min · Season 1 · Episode 20

About this episode

L. David Marquet shares his experience of transforming a command culture in the US Navy.

L. David Marquet, a US Navy submarine captain, takes command of the USS Santa Fe , the worst-performing sub in the fleet. He’s trained for a different submarine class, so he doesn’t know this sub well. Early on, he gives an order that literally cannot be carried out (because that control doesn’t exist on this type of sub). The officer repeats the order anyway. Marquet realises the problem isn’t “bad people” but a leader–follower culture where everyone is trained to obey, not think. His experience led to his book ' Turn the Ship Around '. This episode is from our back-catalogue of our previous podcast series, where David joined Amrit to share his fascinating story. Here it is for our new audience on this podcast. Enjoy1

People in this episode

Host: Amrit Sandhar

Guest: L. David Marquet

Topics covered

  • leadership
  • command culture
  • naval experience
  • transformation
  • self-improvement

Keywords

  • leadership
  • command culture
  • USS Santa Fe
  • navy
  • self-improvement
  • L. David Marquet
  • Turn the Ship Around

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: USS Santa Fe

Books & works: Turn the Ship Around

More episodes of Work Unplugged

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Work Unplugged podcast page.